Input, display and monitoring of contact center operation in a virtual reality environment

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided. A virtual reality environment rendering module provides a virtual reality environment representative of one or more of a contact center, a predictive dialer, and a media collaboration session. The virtual reality environment includes monitored virtual objects associated with a plurality of monitored entities and a monitor virtual object associated with a human monitor. The monitored object moves relative to a coordinate system defining the virtual reality environment. In response to detection of a trigger event, an information manager provides, to the human monitor, information associated with a selected monitored entity corresponding to a selected monitored virtual object.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefits of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/528,521, filed Aug. 29, 2011, of the same title,which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to contact centers and particularly tocontact center monitoring.

BACKGROUND

Contact centers service incoming contacts from customers whilepredictive dialing facilities initiate outgoing customer contactsregarding goods and services. An important function in contact centersand predictive dialing facilities is monitoring performance in light ofpolicies and objectives. An ongoing problem, particularly in largeand/or distributed systems, is enabling one or more supervisory staffmembers to monitor performance of resources, particularly contact centeragents. Supervisory staff members are on their feet much of the daycirculating between contact center agents, adding to job fatigue. Thisproblem is made only worse by covering agents spread over a largephysical area. In geographically distributed contact centers, inparticular the problem is different because the supervisory staffmembers must understand the issue and access screen information beingviewed by a remote agent. This can add time to the customer experiencewhile the supervisory staff loads and reviews the screen information.

Because of these problems, a large number of supervisory staff aregenerally required for contact center and predictive dialing operations.Supervisory staff are more highly compensated than typical contactcenter and predictive dialing agents.

A related problem is that agent behaviors can change when a supervisoris nearby. Some agents become nervous and less effective compared to hisor her normal performance level. Other agents perform better because ofthe effect of “the boss” watching. Thus, the physical presence of thesupervisor may have an undesirable impact on contact center monitoringand/or performance.

A further problem arises from requiring supervisors to carry devices foraccessing dashboards or other comparative performance monitoringinformation while helping or assisting agents. It would be advantageousto multitask easily between helping agents and monitoring performancedashboards.

There is a need for increasing the effectiveness of supervisory staff incontact center and predictive dialer operations while avoiding thedeviant agent behavior from a supervisory staff member being in closephysical proximity to the agent.

SUMMARY

These and other needs are addressed by the various aspects, embodiments,and/or configurations of the present disclosure. The disclosure isdirected generally to a virtual reality environment for monitoring aselected entity.

In an embodiment, a method is provided that includes the steps:

(a) providing, by a virtual reality environment rendering module, avirtual reality environment representative of or associated with one ormore of a contact center, a predictive dialer, and media collaborationsession, the virtual reality environment comprising virtual objectsassociated with a plurality of human entities;

(b) detecting, by an interrupt module, one or more trigger events; and

(c) in response, providing, by an information manager through thevirtual reality environment to a human entity, information associatedwith another entity corresponding to a selected monitored virtualobject. In an embodiment, a method is provided that includes the steps:

(a) providing, by a virtual reality environment rendering module, avirtual reality environment comprising a monitor virtual objectcorresponding to a human monitor and a plurality of monitored virtualobjects associated with a plurality of monitored entities; and

(b) performing, by a control module, an action in response to detectionof a trigger event, wherein one or more of the following is true:

(i) each of the monitored virtual objects is active in the virtualreality environment independent of any control or other input by thecorresponding monitored entity and

(ii) the monitor virtual object is automatically suspended when themonitor virtual object performs a first function and automaticallyreactivated when the monitor virtual object performs a second function,the status of the monitor virtual object being independent of the humanmonitor logging into or out of the virtual reality environment.

In an embodiment, a system is provided that includes:

(a) a plurality of agent communication devices corresponding to aplurality of human agents to service contacts with customers, each humanagent having a corresponding communication device;

(b) a monitor communication device of a human monitor to monitor theplurality of agent communication devices and/or human agents;

(c) a processor executable virtual reality environment rendering moduleto provide a virtual reality environment comprising a plurality ofmonitored virtual entities corresponding to the plurality of humanagents and a monitored virtual entity corresponding to the humanmonitor, the monitor virtual entity and/or monitored virtual entitybeing able to move relative to a coordinate system defining the virtualreality environment;

(d) a processor executable interrupt module to detect one or moretrigger events; and

(e) a processor executable information manager to provide, to the humanmonitor, information associated with a selected monitored entitycorresponding to a selected human agent.

In one configuration, the monitored virtual objects and the monitorvirtual object are avatars; the information comprises one or more of: alive media stream between the selected monitored entity and a customer,a contact identifier (“ID”), a contact type code, an outbound contactinitiation method, a customer ID, a data source ID, an ID of theselected monitored entity and customer involved in the contact, abusiness role code, a party role start date and time, a contactdirection code, a contact direction description, a contact purpose, acontact reason, a contact media interaction disposition, a contactdisposition, a contact wait treatment and/or time, an ID of the selectedmonitored entity, a selected monitored entity ID, a selected monitoredentity percentage time in state by state identifier, a current state ofthe selected monitored entity, a skill of the selected monitored entity,a skill level for the selected monitored entity, a performance statisticand/or metric of the selected monitored entity, a customer valueindicator, a customer historic business level and/or purchase(s), acontact history, contact details, contact queue details, a call waiting(number), a longest wait time, a percentage of calls answered, anaverage answer time, trunk or trunk group details, and/or contactcenter, predictive dialer, and/or call center performance statistics,policies, and/or objectives. The information is provided to the humanmonitor by a display concurrently providing the human monitor with thevirtual reality environment, and the monitored entities are one or moreof agents, agent groups, agent communication devices, contacts, queues,queue groups, trunks, and trunk groups.

In a configuration, a focus and/or focal point of the monitor virtualobject is/are determined. The focus is based on one or more of a virtualposition of the monitor virtual object relative to the coordinate systemand/or the selected monitored virtual object, a proximity of a virtuallocation of the monitor virtual object relative to a virtual location ofthe selected monitored virtual object, a virtual gesture or touch of themonitor virtual object, and/or a view of the monitor virtual object. Thedetermined focus and/or focal point of the monitor virtual object is,for example, the selected monitored virtual object.

In a configuration, the one or more trigger events is/are one or more ofthe monitor virtual object entering and/or leaving a defined region,area, or volume in the virtual reality environment, selection, by thehuman monitor, of the selected monitored virtual object, performance ofa predetermined action by the monitor virtual object, receipt of arequest from a monitored entity, detection of a keyword or key wordphrase in a media stream associated with a contact between a monitoredentity and a customer, and detection of a human monitor's keyword or keyword phrase in an audio stream and/or a text string.

In a configuration, the virtual reality environment, based on thedetermined focus and/or focal point of the monitor virtual object, isreconfigured, by the virtual reality rendering module, whereby a virtualposition of the monitor virtual object is closer to a virtual positionof the at least one selected monitored virtual object and a dashboardcomprising the information associated with the at least one selectedmonitored virtual object is displayed to the human monitor.

In a configuration, the interrupt is a first movement of the monitorvirtual object. The provided information is a live media stream from acontact between the selected monitored entity and a customer. The humanmonitor is connected automatically as a third party to the contact, andthe human monitor is disconnected automatically from the contact inresponse to a second movement by the monitor virtual object.

In a configuration, the interrupt is a first movement of the monitorvirtual object, and the monitored entity is an enqueued contact with acustomer in an on hold status. By the first movement, a communicationmodule automatically connects the human monitor to the customer contact,and, by a second movement of the monitor virtual object, the humanmonitor is disconnected automatically from the customer contact and thecustomer contact is again put on an on-hold status.

The present disclosure can provide a number of advantages depending onthe particular aspect, embodiment, and/or configuration. The disclosedarchitecture can increase the effectiveness of supervisory staff incontact center and predictive dialer operations while avoiding thedeviant agent behavior from a supervisory staff member being in closephysical proximity to the agents. Supervisors can, from a fixedlocation, virtually monitor each of his or her contact center agents asif he or she were standing at the workstation of each of the selectedagents. This can allow supervisory staff to monitor seamlessly whetheragents are co-located or geographically distributed. It can reduce thecost overhead associated with contact center and/or predictive dialeroperations. It can allow a supervisor to use a virtual realityenvironment to monitor live contact center agents and each contactcenter agent's corresponding desktop display, media stream(s), andperformance dashboard without the monitored agent(s) being aware of thesupervisor's activities. It need not create an impersonal relationshipbetween monitored agents on the one hand and the supervisor on theother. The avatars of the monitored agents can be a picture of theactual corresponding agent, thereby enabling the supervisor to memorizethe actual agent's appearance for later use.

These and other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-endedexpressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. Forexample, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at leastone of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B,or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof refers to any process oroperation done without material human input when the process oroperation is performed. However, a process or operation can beautomatic, even though performance of the process or operation usesmaterial or immaterial human input, if the input is received beforeperformance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to bematerial if such input influences how the process or operation will beperformed. Human input that consents to the performance of the processor operation is not deemed to be “material”.

An “avatar” is the graphical representation of a person, such as a user,or a person's alter ego or character. It may take either athree-dimensional or four-dimensional form, as in games or virtualworlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums andother online communities.

A “call center” is a physical place where customer and other telephonecalls are handled by or on behalf of an organization. Typically, a callcenter concurrently handles a considerable volume of calls, whichtreatment includes screening and forward calls to human or automatedresources or agents for servicing.

A “computer-readable medium” refers to any tangible storage and/ortransmission medium that participate in providing instructions to aprocessor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, includingbut not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmissionmedia. Non-volatile media includes, for example, NVRAM, or magnetic oroptical disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as mainmemory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, afloppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any othermagnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a solid state mediumlike a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier waveas described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread. A digital file attachment to e-mail or other self-containedinformation archive or set of archives is considered a distributionmedium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. When thecomputer-readable media is configured as a database, it is to beunderstood that the database may be any type of database, such asrelational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Accordingly,the disclosure is considered to include a tangible storage medium ordistribution medium and prior art-recognized equivalents and successormedia, in which the software implementations of the present disclosureare stored.

A “contact” refers to an interaction between selected parties/entitiesover one or more channels. The parties/entities can be human, such as acustomer, agent, and supervisor, or nonhuman, such as an InteractiveVoice Response unit, a Web server, content analyzer, email server, andthe like.

A “contact center” (or a customer interaction center or e-contactcenter) is a facility within an enterprise from which customer contactsare directed to or managed or serviced by contact center resources. Thecontact center typically includes one or more online call centers butmay include other types of customer contacts, including e-mailnewsletters, postal mail catalogs, Web site inquiries and chats, instantmessages, and the collection of information from customers duringin-store purchasing. A contact center is generally part of anenterprise's overall customer relationship management (“CRM”).

The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variations thereofare used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process,mathematical operation or technique.

The term “means” shall be given its broadest possible interpretation inaccordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112, paragraph 6. Accordingly, aclaim incorporating the term “means” shall cover all structures,materials, or acts set forth herein, and all of the equivalents thereof.Further, the structures, materials or acts and the equivalents thereofshall include all those described in the summary of the invention, briefdescription of the drawings, detailed description, abstract, and claimsthemselves.

The term “module” refers to any known or later developed hardware,software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combinationof hardware and software that is capable of performing the functionalityassociated with that element. Also, while the disclosure is presented interms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that individualaspects of the disclosure can be separately claimed.

A “predictive dialer” dials a list of telephone numbers and connectsanswered dials to people making calls, often referred to as agents.Predictive dialers use statistical algorithms to minimize the time thatagents spend waiting between conversations, while minimizing theoccurrence of someone answering when no agent is available.

A “virtual world” or “virtual environment” or “virtual realityenvironment” is typically an online community that takes the form of acomputer-based simulated environment through which users can interact orcommunicate (such as via video, audio, and/or text communicationmodalities) with one another and use and create objects. The term hasbecome largely synonymous with interactive virtual reality environments(which have a two-, three or four-dimensional coordinate space), wherethe users take the form of avatars visible to others and able to movewithin the virtual reality environment. These avatars usually appear astextual, two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or four-dimensionalrepresentations, although other forms are possible (auditory and touchsensations for example). In some virtual worlds, multiple users, by aclient, can connect simultaneously to a virtual reality server tointeract with one another and with the environment represented by thevirtual world. As will be appreciated, the “fourth” dimension referencedherein with respect to the avatar and virtual reality environment can beexpressed in many forms. For example, the dimension could be temporallybased, or a function of a measure of time. For instance, the dimensioncould be evolution over time (aging, maturity, expertise and the like).In another example, the dimension is based on localized feedback. Othervariations or combinations are also possible for the dimension.

The preceding is a simplified summary of the disclosure to provide anunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is neitheran extensive nor exhaustive overview of the disclosure and its variousaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations. It is intended neither toidentify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate thescope of the disclosure but to present selected concepts of thedisclosure in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detaileddescription presented below. As will be appreciated, other aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations of the disclosure are possibleutilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features setforth above or described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a monitoring system according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of virtual reality supervision moduleaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts monitored entity ordering according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 4-5 depict a display according to various embodiments; and

FIGS. 6A-B depict flowcharts according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

The invention will be illustrated below in conjunction with an exemplarycommunication system. Although well suited for use with, e.g., a systemhaving an ACD or other similar contact processing switch, the inventionis not limited to use with any particular type of communication systemswitch or configuration of system elements. Those skilled in the artwill recognize that the disclosed techniques may be used in anycommunication application in which it is desirable to have a team ofagents engage in training while servicing a contact.

The ensuing description provides embodiments only, and is not intendedto limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims.Rather, the ensuing description will provide those skilled in the artwith an enabling description for implementing the embodiments. It beingunderstood that various changes may be made in the function andarrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

In some embodiments, a virtual reality supervision module is providedthat exports information being accessed by a selected agent (such as theagent screen(s) or display(s) and agent/customer media stream(s)) and/orinformation describing the selected agent (such as an agentrepresentation, e.g., a photograph, video monitoring output, an avatar,etc.) and/or the selected agent and/or contact center, predictivedialer, and/or call center performance metrics into a virtual realityenvironment or world. The information, for example, could be provided toa supervisor or other human monitor by a dashboard or other likeperformance monitoring display for a selected set of agents or othermonitored entity.

In one embodiment, as a supervisor or monitor representation (e.g., aphotograph, video monitoring output, an avatar, etc.) moves around thevirtual reality environment or world, he or she can view selectedagents, such as partitioned physically in workspaces or work areas,seated before a computer screen or display with one or more possiblecommunication devices. As the supervisor or monitor approaches therepresentation of the selected agent and the selected agent's workspaceor work area, the supervisor or monitor would be automatically orselectively linked to a media stream between the selected agent and acustomer and would view the selected agent's screen(s) or display(s).The screen(s) or display(s) could optionally enlarge to give theappearance that the supervisor or monitor would see if he or she werethe selected agent. The supervisor or monitor could passively monitorthe media stream or join in as an active participant. If the supervisoror monitor elected to join, he or she could whisper announce thatelection to the selected agent.

In an embodiment, a change in state of a monitored entity causes acorresponding change in a state of the monitored entity's virtualobject. For example, a change in a state of a contact center agentcauses a corresponding change in a state or appearance of the agent'savatar. For instance, a change in a performance metric associated withthe agent can cause a corresponding change in an appearance of theagent's avatar to reflect the performance metric. The color, size, orother physical characteristic or behavior of the agent's avatar and/or avirtual object in proximity to the agent's avatar could change inresponse to a performance metric falling below or rising above aselected threshold.

In the discussion below, the words “supervisor” and “user” and the words“entity” and “object” are used interchangeably. In some cases, however,“user” is also used to refer not only to the supervisor but also to ahuman monitored entity, such as a contact center agent. Further,“supervisor” is used to refer not only to a supervisor but also to othertypes of human monitors, which may or may not be a supervisor of themonitored entity (which may be human or non-human). In some cases, anagent can act as a supervisor by reviewing his or her behavior over aperiod in a virtual reality environment. In addition, an agent couldtrain to be a supervisor by reviewing actual events in a virtual realitytraining simulator.

The Monitoring System

With reference to FIG. 1, a monitoring system 100, according to anembodiment, is depicted. The monitoring system 100 includes a supervisorcommunication device 104, a virtual reality supervision module 108 andassociated database 112, a plurality of monitored entities 116 a-n, allinterconnected by networking elements 120, 124, and 128, as appropriate.

The supervisor communication device 104 can be any computational devicehaving one or more display(s) or screen(s), such as a personal computer,a laptop, a notebook computer, a smart phone, and the like.

The virtual reality supervision module 108 receives inputs from thesupervisor communication device 104, one or more selected monitoredentities 116 a-n, and the database 112 and, based on the input, providesa virtual reality environment for presentation to the supervisor via thesupervisor communication device 104 and/or to a monitored entity via amonitored entity communication device (not shown). In one implantation,the virtual reality supervision module 108 is a modified version ofAvaya Web.alive™ or Avayalive™.

The database 112 can have any suitable data structure, such as arelational or object oriented data structure, and includes a variety ofdata, including without limitation contact center, predictive dialer,and/or call center information or objects (e.g., for a contact, contactID (an internally generated unique identifier of a contact); contacttype code (which identifies the type of contact), outbound contactinitiation method, customer ID (the identifier(s) of the customer(s)engaged in the contact), data source ID, party ID (the identifier(s) ofthe parties to the contact), business role code, party role startdate/time (the date/time that the contact center recognizes that theparty may play a role in interactions with the enterprise), contactdirection code, contact direction description, contact purpose, contactreason, contact media interaction disposition, contact disposition, andcontact wait treatment/time; for an agent, agent identifier, agentcontact information, agent group identifier and information, agentpercentage time in state by state identifier, current agent state, agentskill(s), agent skill level for each agent skill, agent performancestatistics or metrics, agent avatar, etc.), and for a customer, customeridentifier, customer contact information, customer value indicator,customer historic business level and/or purchases, contact history,customer avatar, etc.; contact or contact queue details and otherinformation (e.g., call waiting (number), longest wait time, percentageof calls answered, average answer time, etc.); trunk or trunk groupdetails and other information; contact center, predictive dialer, and/orcall center performance statistics, policies, and objectives; and othercontact center, predictive dialer, and/or call center information). Thedatabase 112 can further include virtual reality environmentinformation, such as the coordinate system and various objects indexedand/or referenced relative to the coordinate system.

The monitored entities 116 a-n can be any human, computational, or othertracked or monitored entity. Examples of monitored entities includeagents or agent groups, agent communication devices (e.g., desktops,phones, displays, keyboards, mouse or other user input device, etc.),inbound or outbound customer contacts, queues or queue groups, trunks ortrunk groups, and other selected entities or objects.

The networking elements 120, 124, and 128 can be any signal path orchannel, such as a bus, a local area or wide area network, and the like.

The Virtual Reality Supervision Module

With reference to FIG. 2, the various modules of the virtual realitysupervision module 108 are depicted. The virtual reality supervisionmodule 108 includes a user focus module 200, an information manager 204,a virtual reality environment rendering module 208, user interfacemodule 212, interrupt module 216, communication module 220, and controlmodule 224, all interconnected by a networking element 228, which can beany of the networking elements 120, 124, or 128 discussed with referenceto FIG. 1.

The user focus module 200 determines a focus or focal point of aselected avatar relative to the virtual reality environment and/oravatars or other objects (or monitored entities) in the environment. Thefocus may be based on a virtual position, a location, or physicalproximity of the avatar, a virtual gesture or touch of the avatar,and/or a view of the avatar. An avatar's view, which can be presented toa corresponding user, can itself depend on the location and/ororientation of the avatar within the virtual reality environment. Forexample, the avatar's view may depend on the direction in which theavatar is facing and the selected viewing option, such as whether theuser has opted to have the view appear as if the user were lookingthrough the eyes of the avatar or whether the user has opted to pan backfrom the avatar to see a three-dimensional view of where the avatar islocated and what the avatar is doing in the three-dimensionalcomputer-generated virtual reality environment.

The information manager 204 retrieves, from the database 112, data andreceives and filters inputs from the supervisor communication device104, monitored entities 116 a-n, user focus module 200, user interfacemodule 212, and interrupt module 216 and provides relevant informationto the virtual reality environment rendering module 208. The retrieveddata includes not only information related to a contact center,predictive dialer, and/or call center and/or components thereof, butalso information related to the virtual reality environment itself. Thelatter information includes the coordinate system and the variousobjects indexed or located in the coordinate system.

The virtual reality environment rendering module 208 receivesinformation from the information manager 204 and renders and updates thevirtual reality environment. The virtual reality environment can beinteractive, have rules based on reality (e.g., gravity, mass, gravity,topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication, etc.) anda two-, three or four-dimensional coordinate space. The virtual realityenvironment depicts the user(s) and selected object(s) as avatars orother visual or graphical representation visible to the user andpossibly to others. The coordinate system can have any configuration,such as a floor plan with multiple rooms, a network site map with agentavatars at each network node, a circular room with the agent avatarspositioned around the circumference of the room and the supervisoravatar in the central interior of the room, and so forth.

The user's avatar, and possibly other avatars, is/are able to movewithin the virtual reality environment in response to commands receivedfrom the user, such as key strokes, mouse cursor movements, usergestures or bodily movements, and the like. The avatars usually appearas textual, two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or four-dimensionalrepresentations, though other forms are possible (auditory and touchsensations for example). The virtual reality environment renderingmodule 208 presents perceptual stimuli to the user based on his or hermovement or other interaction with the objects in the virtual realityenvironment. In some configurations, multiple users, by a correspondingclient, connect simultaneously to a virtual reality server to interactwith one another and with the virtual reality environment.

The user interface module 212 receives command and request inputs fromthe supervisor communication device 104 and/or communication device(s)(not shown) associated with a set of monitored entities 116 a-n andprovides information, such as a visual rendering of the virtual realityenvironment (received from the virtual reality environment renderingmodule 208) and contact center, predictive dialer, and/or call centerinformation or component thereof information (received from theinformation manager 204), to the supervisor communication device 104and/or a communication device (not shown) associated with a selectedmonitored entity 116 a-n.

For example, a user can see a representation of a portion of thecomputer-generated virtual reality environment on a display and inputcommands via his or her user input device, such as a mouse or keyboard.The user interface module 212 receives the command(s) and other input(s)from the user and passes the user input to the virtual realityenvironment rendering module 208. The virtual reality environmentrendering module 208 causes the user's avatar or other object under thecontrol of the user to execute the desired action in the virtual realityenvironment. In this way, the user may control a portion of the virtualreality environment, such as his or her avatar or other objects incontact with the avatar, to change the virtual reality environment.

The user interrupt module 216, based on information received from theuser focus module 200, information manager 204, and/or user interfacemodule 212, generates an interrupt, requiring one or more specifiedactions by the control module 224. The virtual reality environment mayinclude triggers or trigger events that generate actions when triggeredby an activity in the environment. In one configuration, the userinterrupt module 216 is a scripted, such as Perl, REXX, JavaScript,VBScript, and Tcl/Tk mapping function designed to listen and watch fortrigger events in the virtual reality environment, look up the triggerevent in a trigger event table to determine the trigger event type, andpass the trigger event type and associated parameter(s) to a scriptedfunction. As will be appreciated, a script is a program or sequence ofinstructions that is interpreted or carried out by another programrather than by the computer processor (as in the case of a compiledprogram). The associated parameters can include the identity of the userwho caused the trigger event (if available), any trigger eventvariables, and a string which can be used by the Scripted logic toselect an appropriate action. Similarly, the Scripted mapping functionenables input from the user focus module 200, information manager 204,and/or user interface module 212 to be passed to a Scripted function sothat interaction with the virtual reality environment content can causeparticular actions or events to occur within the virtual realityenvironment, such as providing, in substantial real time, the supervisorwith a selected agent's desktop display, dashboard (which aresupervisor-configurable to enable him or her to drill down intoadditional detail in a selected pane or segment of the dashboard),and/or current media stream(s) in customer contact sessions. As will beappreciated, trigger event detection may be performed by functionalityother than and different from the Scripted mapping function. Althoughthe functionality is described as being scripted, it is to beappreciated that the functionality could be a compiled program or acombination of a script and a compiled program.

Trigger events in the virtual reality environment can take many forms.Examples of possible trigger events include when a user enters or leavesa defined region, area, or volume in the virtual reality environment(i.e., the user enters/leaves a partitioned area or room), the userapproaches or leaves a particular person, the user starts/stops talkingto another user, the user clicks on an object, the user invokes acontrol feature to enable his or her avatar to take special actionwithin the virtual reality environment, and the userstarts/stops/updates content mapped to a surface of the virtual realityenvironment. A monitored entity, such as a queue or trunk group, canautomatically request a supervisor's attention or assistance. A contactcenter agent can request a supervisor's attention through a userinterface, through gesture recognition, or via automatic speechrecognition of a keyword or key word phrase in an audio stream orkeyword or key word phrase in a text string. Other trigger eventsinclude gesture recognition, or automatic speech recognition of asupervisor's keyword or key word phrase in an audio stream or a textstring. Further trigger events include commands or requests receivedfrom a user interface of the supervisor or agent. Other actions orstimuli may be captured as trigger events; therefore, this list is notexhaustive but simply shows several examples of possible actions thatmay be captured and interpreted as triggers.

As the user manipulates his or her avatar within the virtual realityenvironment, particular events in the virtual reality environment willcause the rendered virtual reality environment to be updated. Forexample, when the user enters a partitioned area or room and approachesan agent, the action may be interpreted as an event which may causeinformation (particularly non-virtual world information such as contactcenter, predetermined dialer, and/or call center information) associatedwith the approached agent to be retrieved by the information manager 204and provided to the user. As another example, if the user were to moveto another room containing a second different agent the movement wouldbe interpreted as an event to update not only the rendered virtualreality environment but also the non-virtual world information providedto the user.

The monitored entity is represented by an avatar or other visual orgraphical image or representation whose appearance is a functionprimarily of a resource or media type. For example, an automatedresource, such as an interactive response unit, would have an appearancedifferent from that of a human agent. In another example, theinteractive response unit and human agent would have a substantiallysimilar appearance provided they use a common media type andsubstantially different appearance if they were to use a different mediatype.

The communication module 220 effects a communication session between theuser and a selected object by a selected communication modality, such asvoice call, multimedia call, email, instant messaging, text chat, andthe like. The communication session can be by initiating a new sessionor joining an existing session.

The control module 224 supervises and controls operations of the othermodules and manages the interactions between and among them.

Operational Examples

A first example will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and B. Withreference to FIG. 3A, a supervisor avatar 300 is associated with asupervisor and first, second, third, . . . pth agent avatars 304 a-p areassociated with contact center agents under the supervision of thesupervisor. The supervisor is spatially proximal (relative to thecoordinate system of the virtual reality environment) to the first andsecond contact center agent avatars 304 a-b (which acts as a trigger foran interrupt and is deemed by the user focus module 200 to be the focus308 of the supervisor) and therefore the interrupt module 216, assumingthat the supervisor is interested in the first and second agent avatars304 a-b, causes the information manager 204 to provide the userinterface module 212 with selected non-virtual reality environmentinformation associated with the first and second agent avatars 304 a-bfor presentation to the supervisor. What non-virtual reality environmentinformation is to be provided to the supervisor or other action to beperformed in response to a selected trigger may be defined by thesupervisor. The user interface module 212 either provides thenon-virtual reality environment information directly to the supervisorcommunication device 104 for display to the supervisor or to the virtualreality environment rendering module for incorporation into the virtualreality environment display information provided to the supervisorcommunication device 104. At a later time, the supervisor avatar 300moves in the direction 312 indicated and is now positioned in spatialproximity to the second and third agent avatars 304 b-c as shown in FIG.3B (which spatial proximity acts as a trigger for an interrupt and isdeemed by the user focus module 200 to be the focus 312 of thesupervisor). In response to the detected trigger, the interrupt module216, assuming that the supervisor is now interested in the second andthird agent avatars 304 b-c, causes the information manager 204 toprovide the user interface module 212 with selected non-virtual realityenvironment information associated with the second and third agentavatars 304 b-c for presentation to the supervisor.

As will be appreciated, an avatar is generally a three dimensionalrendering of a person or other creature that represents the user in thevirtual reality environment. A user corresponding to an avatar selectsthe appearance of the avatar when creating a profile (such as specifyingheight, weight, gender, age, hair color, etc) and controls, tactilely,by bodily movement, by eye movement, etc., the movement of the avatar inthe virtual reality environment. In one configuration, the appearance ofthe avatar is based on information collected from an on-line source,such as a social network (e.g., Facebook™ or LinkedIn™). The user cancause the avatar to walk, run, wave, talk, or make other similarmovements. The image 318 (see FIG. 3A) and other similar imagesrepresenting the avatar in the virtual reality environment are crudeavatar representations not intended to show how an avatar would actuallyappear in a virtual reality environment. Avatars have generally beenrepresented herein using simple geometric shapes or two dimensionaldrawings, rather than complex three dimensional shapes such as peopleand animals. The actual appearance of avatars in the computer-generatedvirtual reality environment is not important to the concepts discussedherein.

Although avatars are discussed with reference to human contact centeragents, it is to be appreciated that avatars can be associated withnon-human monitored entities. For example, an avatar can be a picture orimage of a selected agent's personal computer, desktop, phone, keyboardor other user input device, etc. It could also be a representation of anautomated resource, such as an interactive response unit.

Examples of displays on the supervisor communication device 104 will nowbe discussed with reference to FIGS. 4-5. As shown in FIG. 4 (whichrepresents a display 400 of the supervisor communication device 104), anagent avatar 404 corresponding to a selected contact center agent isdepicted in a first display portion 408 of the display 400. A dashboard412, which is depicted in a second display portion 420, comprises first,second, . . . zth information display segments 416 a-z, each of thefirst, second, . . . zth information display segments 416 a-z includesnon-virtual reality environment information related to the contactcenter, predictive dialer, and/or call center and/or the selectedcontact center agent. In one configuration, the dashboards of at leasttwo of the selected agents contain different types of non-virtualreality environment information, such as a first dashboard containingone or more of agent group identifier and information, agent percentagetime in state by state identifier, current agent state, agent skill(s),and agent skill level for each agent skill and a second dashboardcontaining a different one or more of agent group identifier andinformation, agent percentage time in state by state identifier, currentagent state, agent skill(s), and agent skill level for each agent skill.Although the first display portion 408 is depicted below the seconddisplay portion 420, any relative orientation of the display portions ispossible.

In one configuration, display portions other than or in addition to thedashboard are displayed simultaneously with the virtual realityenvironment. For example, one or more additional display portions candisplay the corresponding selected agent's desktop display insubstantial real time, a historic display of the selected agent'sdesktop, a live video of the selected agent, and the like.

In one configuration, the virtual reality environment is viewed by theuser with non-virtual reality environment information, in a transparentoverlay or background, overlaying the three dimensional content of thevirtual reality environment, whereby the three dimensional content ofthe virtual reality environment continues to be visible through theoverlay or background. Stated another way, a dashboard showing selectedagent and/or contact center, predictive dialer, and/or contact centerinformation overlays the virtual reality environment so that both thedashboard contents and the underlying virtual reality environment areboth substantially visible to the user. Stated yet another way, thefirst and second display portions 408 and 420 would be at leastpartially overlapping. As will be appreciated, other displayconfigurations are possible within the virtual reality environment.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the supervisor avatar has changed focus fromone selected contact center agent to multiple contact center agents.Each agent avatar 404 a-q in a respective first display portion 408 a-qhas a corresponding dashboard 412 a-q in a corresponding second displayportion 420 a-q. The ordering of the agent avatars from left-to-right,right-to-left, or otherwise can depend on the relative performance ofeach agent. For instance, the left-most agent avatar can correspond tothe least performing agent of the selected agents and the right-most tothe best performing agent of the selected agents. FIG. 5 depicts how thenumber of supervisor selected avatars can vary depending on the breadthof focus by the supervisor.

In another example, the changing focus of the supervisor changes thespatial relationships between objects in the coordinate system of thevirtual reality environment. By way of example, when a supervisor avatarmoves back and forth between two or three agent avatars, the virtualreality environment can be reconfigured by the virtual realityenvironment rendering module 208. For example, the virtual realityenvironment can be changed or reconfigured such that two or threestations immediately before the selected two or three agent avatars (asdetermined by the user focus module 200) are the two or three stationsin closest (virtual) spatial proximity to the supervisor avatar or arethe two or three stations currently being monitored by the supervisoravatar. In this way, the supervisor need spend less time with navigationkeys walking his or her avatar from virtual partition-to-partition orroom-to-room to monitor the two or three selected agents.

In another example, automatic speech recognition of a selected term,such as “supervisor” in an audio or text stream or other keyword or keyword phrase detection in an audio stream or text string or detectedcontact center agent gesture or other movement would bring a specificcontact center agent to the attention of the supervisor and/or move thevirtual position of the agent station into spatial proximity with thesupervisor avatar to avoid the supervisor needing to recognize thespecific contact center agent, determine the specific contact centeragent's virtual location, and navigate the supervisor avatar to thespecific contact center agent's virtual location.

In yet another example, the supervisor's experience or total virtualreality session is recorded for future replay. The supervisor, or thecontrol module 224, can tag and/or timestamp media streams, agent screendetail, dashboard, or other performance monitoring information to recallspecific data or events at a future point in time. The tags could outputsnippets or mark specific events or sections of a larger recording.

In yet another example, the supervisor avatar, when within a defined(virtual) spatial proximity of an avatar associated with a selectedcontact center agent, hears, in a type of eavesdropping mode, either theagent's end alone or both the agent's and customer's ends of a livecontact session. The supervisor, via his or her avatar, would hear allor part of the dialog between the selected agent and customer. Moreoveras the supervisor avatar approaches the avatar of the selected agent,the selected agent's dashboard or current desktop display would pop upon the supervisor's display (such as discussed above with reference toFIGS. 4-5), thereby enabling the supervisor to monitor more effectivelythe selected agent's performance overall and current servicing of thecustomer. The supervisor's display changes in real time to reflectchanges in the selected agent's desktop.

In yet another example, the communication module 220 initiates a newsession with a selected agent by an action undertaken in the virtualreality environment by the user's avatar relative to the selectedagent's avatar or the user joins an existing session between a customerand an agent by an action undertaken in the virtual reality environmentby the user's avatar relative to the selected agent's avatar, customer'savatar, or an avatar or other visual or graphical image or object in thevirtual reality environment associated with the existing session.Initiation of the new session or joining of an existing session can alsobe caused by other trigger events, such as detection of a keyword or keyword phrase spoken by the supervisor. In one configuration, the actiontrigger in the virtual reality environment is the (virtual) proximity ofthe participants' avatars. Once the connection is established, theconnection may be managed so that the connection is maintained while theavatars remain proximate each other and is automatically severed oncethe avatars move away from each other.

In yet another example, a change in state of a monitored entity or setof monitored entities causes a corresponding change in a state of amonitored entity's virtual object. For example, a change in a state of acontact center agent or group of which the contact center agent is apart causes a corresponding change in a state or appearance of theagent's avatar. For instance, a change in a performance metricassociated with the agent, supervisor, predictive dialer, contactcenter, and/or call center can cause a corresponding change in anappearance of the agent's avatar to reflect the performance metric. Thecolor, size, or other physical characteristic or behavior of the agent'savatar and/or a virtual object in proximity to the agent's avatar couldchange in response to a performance metric falling below or rising abovea selected threshold. Exemplary performance metrics include a selectedmonitored entity percentage time in state by state identifier, a currentstate of the selected monitored entity, a skill of the selectedmonitored entity, a skill level for the selected monitored entity, aperformance statistic of the selected monitored entity (e.g., an agent“scorecard”), and/or compliance with a contact center, predictivedialer, and/or call center performance statistic, policy, and/orobjective (e.g., requirement regarding first-call resolution, servicelevel/response time, average, predicted, forecasted, actual, or meanwait time, forecasting accuracy, (e.g, forecasted work load versusactual work load), contact quality, service level compliance rate, agentoccupancy, conversion rate, up-sell/cross-sell rate, cost per call, andcustomer satisfaction (e.g., complaints, first contact resolution rate,transfer rate, number of escalations, and call abandon rate)). Examplesof performance statistics include the time an agent spends reviewingdaily alerts or special promotions, logged into a relevant application,organizing his or her workspace before servicing a contact, contactwrap-up activity, average or total contact handle time, average speed ofanswer, adherence to schedule (a measurement of how much time during anagent's shift he or she is logged in and handling contacts), contactquality (e.g., courtesy and professionalism, providing customers withcorrect and relevant information, first-contact resolution (e.g.,one-and-done), and grammar and spelling in text communication), analyzedcompetency, number of escalations, agent peak performance index,transfer rate, communication skills, adherence to procedures, andcustomer satisfaction.

In yet another example, a monitor re-arranges monitored virtual entitiesbased on selected criteria (including the performance metrics above),such as for coaching or help. A monitor, for instance, can select aperformance metric threshold and organize the monitored virtual entitiesin a subgroup for those having in common a specified relationship (aboveor below) the specified threshold. The subgroup can automatically beplaced into a conference with the supervisor via a one-way or two-wayvirtual communication medium (e.g., live voice, email, text, chat andthe like), monitored as discussed above (such as shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B,and 4-5), or otherwise placed in spatial proximity to the monitorvirtual entity and the virtual reality environment. In other words, agrouping of monitored virtual entities or objects can be assembledautomatically and selected information conveyed or broadcast to thegroup. Alternatively, two-way communications between the supervisor andsupervised entities would be enabled, such as to engage in aquestion-and-answer session. An example would be where a supervisordesires to convey information to agents regarding a performance metricfalling below or rising above a selected threshold.

In yet another example, a monitor can customize the appearances ofavatars associated with himself or herself and/or monitored entities toemphasize information important to the monitor. For example, an avatarof a monitored entity can have a first appearance when performing to ahigher level and a second different appearance when performing to alower level. In this manner, the virtual reality environment can bemodified to suit the particular personality and beliefs of the monitor.By way of further example, a monitor avatar can have a first appearanceto a first monitored entity and a second different appearance to asecond monitored entity. In this manner, the virtual reality environmentcan be modified to suit the particular personality and beliefs of themonitor.

In yet another example, spatially dislocated entities, such as twosupervisors, two agents, an agent and a subject matter expert, or asupervisor and agent, are able to communicate through the virtualreality environment. For instance, first and second spatially dislocatedagents can converse with one another regarding a work-related topic viathe virtual reality environment. This has the advantage of facilitatingagent-to-agent interaction with substantial benefits to the contactcenter, including a better quality of customer service andinter-employee relationship.

In yet another example, the communication module 220 enables asupervisor to receive a queued call (on hold) with a customer by anaction undertaken in the virtual reality environment by the supervisor'savatar relative to an avatar or icon or visual or graphical imageassociated with the call. Each of the calls in-queue has a correspondingavatar or icon or image, which may or may not be virtually shown asbeing related to a specific queue. Moving the supervisor avatar to alocation spatially proximal to the avatar or icon or image would causethe communication module 220 to route the call to the supervisor'scommunication device 104.

In yet another example, a supervisor avatar selects an avatar or othervirtual representation of a queued in bound or out bound contact, suchas a contact on hold or initiated but not yet answered, and interactwith the customer or potential customer, either through or outside ofthe virtual reality environment, on the other end of the contact. Forinstance, the supervisor avatar would be connected by the communicationmodule 220 with the customer and able to service the customer orotherwise interact with the customer. A trigger event for suchintervention could be the perceived value or rating of the customer, acustomer request, a wait time of the contact, or a sensed indicator bythe customer of a need for immediate attention, such as detection by aninteractive response unit of the contact center of customer frustrationor anger. The trigger event would also work for a contact being servicedby an agent, in which event the supervisor would use this modality tojoin in the contact session. The supervisor avatar could move away fromthe virtual representation of the contact, which would cause thesupervisor to be disconnected automatically from the contact and thecontact to be placed again on hold or disconnected too. The supervisorinteraction with the customer could be recorded and/or keyword or keyword phrase analyzed and tagged or annotated for use by the agentselected to subsequently service the contact. In the virtual realityenvironment, this configuration could have the appearance of thesupervisor avatar located in a corridor, room, or other defined areabehind the agent avatars, with virtual representations of contactsvirtually interacting with the agent avatars and progressing through apath of travel (which represents the queue) to the agent avatars. Afterservicing, the virtual contact avatars, icons or visual or graphicalimages exit the agent avatar area through an exit. This type of customerinteraction could also be possible for an agent avatar.

Flowcharts

The operations of the various modules will now be discussed withreference to FIGS. 6A-B.

At the outset, a person represented by an avatar, such as thesupervisor, normally is not “in world”, or does not have an activeavatar in the virtual reality environment, unless the person is loggedinto the virtual reality supervision module 108. Due to the monitoringfunction, this arrangement is modified such that the virtual realitysupervision module 108, on its own initiative or at the request of auser, particularly the supervisor, has the ability to activate theavatars and other virtual representations of monitored entities 116 a-neven when they are not logged into the virtual reality supervisionmodule 108 or are not “in world”. In this manner, a monitored entitydoes not have the ability to evade monitoring simply by “forgetting” tolog into the virtual reality supervision module 108. Stated another way,the supervisor can toggle into and out of the virtual realityenvironment to interact with monitored entities. When toggled out of thevirtual reality environment, the supervisor's avatar would be “on hold”or inactive but would, upon the supervisor toggling into the virtualreality environment be active again without the supervisor needing tolog out and log in, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 6A, the control module 224 or interrupt module 212receives a stimulus in step 600. The stimulus requires the virtualreality supervision module 108 to analyze the virtual realityenvironment and/or the behavior of the supervisor and/or monitoredentities inside and/or outside of the virtual reality environment. Thestimulus may be passage of a predetermined period of time, systeminterrupt, and/or request by the supervisor and/or a monitored entity.

In step 604, the user focus module 200 determines a focus of the user asdiscussed above.

In step 608, the virtual reality environment rendering module 208reconfigures the set of monitored entities based on the sensed userfocus. Reconfiguration may include not only selecting new monitoredentities for more intense monitoring but also accessing new oradditional types of virtual and non-virtual reality environmentinformation associated with the new monitored entities for presentationto the user.

In decision diamond 612, the virtual reality environment renderingmodule 208 determines whether or not to reorder, in the virtual realityenvironment, the members of the set of monitored entities. Whenreordering in the virtual reality environment is to be performed, thevirtual reality environment rendering module 208, in step 616, reordersthe members of the set based on the sensed or determined focus of theuser.

After step 616 or if no reordering is required, the interrupt module216, in decision diamond 620, determines whether the stimulus was aninterrupt, such as an interrupt resulting from detection of one or moretrigger events or triggers. When the stimulus is not an interrupt, thevirtual reality supervision module 108 returns to step 600. When thestimulus is an interrupt, the interrupt module 216, in decision diamond624, determines the type of interrupt.

There are five types of interrupts shown. However, the system is notlimited to the interrupts specified.

A first type of interrupt is triggered by a request by the supervisor,an agent, and/or the virtual reality supervision module 108 for aresource, such as a subject matter expert, interactive response unit(e.g., an interactive voice response unit, etc.), etc. In step 628, thevirtual reality supervision module 108 determines the availability ofthe requested resource and, in step 632, provides the resource whenavailable. Availability may be determined on any suitable basis, such asfirst-come-first-served.

A second type of interrupt is triggered by a monitored entity, such asdescribed above. In response, the control module 224, in decisiondiamond 636, determines whether or not to accept the action associatedwith the interrupt. This decision may be made by the control module 224alone or based on a response from the supervisor. When the interrupt isto be accepted, the virtual reality supervision module 108 returns tostep 600.

A third type of interrupt is triggered by a supervisor and can be ofnumerous sub-types, which is determined in decision diamond 644.

A first sub-type is when the supervisor toggles out of, or leaves, thevirtual reality environment without logging out. In that event, thevirtual reality environment rendering module 208, in step 648, suspendsthe avatar associated with the supervisor.

A second sub-type is when the supervisor toggles in, or re-enters, thevirtual reality environment without logging in. In that event, thevirtual reality environment rendering module 208, in step 652,reactivates the avatar associated with the supervisor.

A third sub-type is from the supervisor or a non-virtual realityenvironment application, such as a contact center, predictive dialer orcall center application (or a monitored component thereof such as anagent group, queue, queue group, trunk, or trunk group). The sub-type isassociated with a command, request, or alarm. In step 656, the virtualreality environment rendering module 208 takes the appropriate action.

A fourth type of interrupt is triggered by the virtual realityenvironment rendering module 208 itself, such as described above. Inresponse, the control module 224, in step 660, maps the interrupt, ortrigger event, against a rule set and selects and applies an appropriaterule.

A fifth type of interrupt is triggered by a customer, as discussedabove. In response, the interrupt module 216, in decision diamond 664,determines whether or not to accept the action associated with theinterrupt. When the action is to be accepted, the interrupt module 216,in step 668, creates an appropriate set of data structures and/orcreates appropriate communication path(s) to enable the supervisor tointeract with the customer.

After performance of any of steps 632, 648, 652, 656, 660, or 668 orwhen the resource is determined not to be available (decision diamond636) or the action associated with the customer interrupt is not to beaccepted (decision diamond 664), the virtual reality supervision module108 proceeds to step 640 and terminates operation with respect to theinterrupt.

The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have been describedin relation to a networked set of computational components. However, toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the precedingdescription omits a number of known structures and devices. Thisomission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scopes of theclaims. Specific details are set forth to provide an understanding ofthe present disclosure. It should however be appreciated that thepresent disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond thespecific detail set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary aspects, embodiments, and/orconfigurations illustrated herein show the various components of thesystem collocated, certain components of the system can be locatedremotely, at distant portions of a distributed network, such as a LANand/or the Internet, or within a dedicated system. Thus, it should beappreciated, that the components of the system can be combined in to oneor more devices, such as a server, or collocated on a particular node ofa distributed network, such as an analog and/or digitaltelecommunications network, a packet-switch network, or acircuit-switched network. It will be appreciated from the precedingdescription, and for reasons of computational efficiency, that thecomponents of the system can be arranged at any location within adistributed network of components without affecting the operation of thesystem. For example, the various components can be located in a switchsuch as a PBX and media server, gateway, in one or more communicationsdevices, at one or more users' premises, or some combination thereof.Similarly, one or more functional portions of the system could bedistributed between a telecommunications device(s) and an associatedcomputing device.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connectingthe elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof,or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable ofsupplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements.These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may becapable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media usedas links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electricalsignals, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, and maytake the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Also, while the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated inrelation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciatedthat changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occurwithout materially affecting the operation of the disclosed embodiments,configuration, and aspects.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used.It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosurewithout providing others.

For example in one alternative embodiment, the monitoring system is usedfor other monitoring, such as monitoring of testing or other type offacilities (in which the monitored entity is the facility or segment orcomponent thereof and the supervisor is security, scientists or otherpersonnel responsible for the operation or maintenance of the facility),monitoring of classrooms or other teaching facilities (in which themonitored entities are the pupils or students and the supervisor is theteacher or instructor), monitoring of security cameras (in which themonitored entities are the security cameras and the supervisor issecurity personnel responsible for the operation, maintenance, and/ormonitoring of the cameras), Transportation Security Administration orTSA-type transportation screening (in which the monitored entities arethe TSA security personnel and/or passengers and the supervisor is TSAmanager over the security personnel or the TSA personnel, asappropriate) and other like situations, where the supervisor or securitycan be spread too thin. For instance, in the TSA-type virtual realityenvironment in which the passenger is the monitored entity, thesupervisor, or TSA security screener, would virtually interact with avirtual representation of the passenger and, by the virtual interaction,access the passenger's credentials, ticket information, baggage x-rayimages or results, and/or security screening results.

In another alternative embodiment, the monitoring system is used formonitoring students or pupils remotely. In the virtual realityenvironment, the teacher or instructor would have a corresponding avatarviewable by the students and the students, or the monitored entities,would have corresponding avatars viewable not only by the teacher butalso by one another. The avatars would be human-like and have human-likecapabilities. The student avatars would be arranged before the teacheror instructor avatar in a classroom-like setting at desks or otherstations. For instance, student avatars could raise their virtual hands,speak up virtually, or ask a textual question virtually. As each studentavatar performs one of these activities or is otherwise prompted by theteacher or instructor, the virtual classroom would be rearranged suchthat the student avatar and/or his or her desk would come to the frontof the virtual classroom to the attention of the other avatars.

In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digitalsignal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such asdiscrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array suchas PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means,or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementingthe methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the variousaspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for thedisclosed embodiments, configurations and aspects includes computers,handheld devices, telephones (e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital,analog, hybrids, and others), and other hardware known in the art. Someof these devices include processors (e.g., a single or multiplemicroprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage, input devices, and outputdevices. Furthermore, alternative software implementations including,but not limited to, distributed processing or component/objectdistributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machineprocessing can also be constructed to implement the methods describedherein.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readilyimplemented in conjunction with software using object or object-orientedsoftware development environments that provide portable source code thatcan be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially orfully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whethersoftware or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance withthis disclosure is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirementsof the system, the particular function, and the particular software orhardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems beingutilized.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partiallyimplemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executedon programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of acontroller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, orthe like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented as program embedded on personal computer such as anapplet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server orcomputer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurementsystem, system component, or the like. The system can also beimplemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into asoftware and/or hardware system.

Although the present disclosure describes components and functionsimplemented in the aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations withreference to particular standards and protocols, the aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations are not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentdisclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure, in various aspects, embodiments, and/orconfigurations, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/orapparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, includingvarious aspects, embodiments, configurations embodiments,subcombinations, and/or subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art willunderstand how to make and use the disclosed aspects, embodiments,and/or configurations after understanding the present disclosure. Thepresent disclosure, in various aspects, embodiments, and/orconfigurations, includes providing devices and processes in the absenceof items not depicted and/or described herein or in various aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations hereof, including in the absence ofsuch items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g.,for improving performance, achieving ease and\or reducing cost ofimplementation.

The foregoing discussion has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the disclosureto the form or forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing DetailedDescription for example, various features of the disclosure are groupedtogether in one or more aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations forthe purpose of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the aspects,embodiments, and/or configurations of the disclosure may be combined inalternate aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations other than thosediscussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claims require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a singleforegoing disclosed aspect, embodiment, and/or configuration. Thus, thefollowing claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodimentof the disclosure.

Moreover, though the description has included description of one or moreaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations and certain variations andmodifications, other variations, combinations, and modifications arewithin the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as may be within the skill andknowledge of those in the art, after understanding the presentdisclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternativeaspects, embodiments, and/or configurations to the extent permitted,including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures,functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not suchalternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: providing, by amicroprocessor executing a virtual reality environment rendering module,a virtual reality environment representative of or associated with acontact center, a predictive dialer, or a media collaboration session,the virtual reality environment comprising virtual objects associatedwith a plurality of human entities, wherein the plurality of humanentities comprise one or more human agents for servicing contacts withthird parties and one or more supervisors for supervising performance ofthe one or more human agents, and wherein the virtual objects areavatars; detecting, by the microprocessor executing an interrupt module,one or more trigger events; providing, by the microprocessor executingan information manager through the virtual reality environment to acommunication device of a first human entity of the plurality of humanentities, information associated with a second human entity of theplurality of human entities, the second human entity corresponding to aselected monitored virtual object, wherein the first human entity is asupervisor and the second human entity is a human agent and wherein theinformation manager provides the information by a dashboard containingthe information associated with the second human entity; and in responseto the detecting, the microprocessor: (a) connecting automatically acommunication device of the first human entity to a session in which acustomer is being serviced by the second human entity, wherein the oneor more trigger events is movement of the virtual object correspondingto the first human entity; or (b) establishing a communication session,through the virtual environment, between communication devices of thefirst and second human entities and a third party in a contact beingserviced by the second human entity.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe one or more trigger events is one or more of a virtual objectentering and/or leaving a defined region, area, or volume in the virtualreality environment, selection, by a human entity, of the selectedvirtual object, performance of a predetermined action by a virtualobject, receipt of a request from a human entity, detection of a keywordor key word phrase in a media stream associated with a contact between ahuman entity and a customer, and detection of a human entity's keywordor key word phrase in an audio stream and/or a text string.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor establishes acommunication session, through the virtual environment, between thefirst and second human entities and a third party in a contact beingserviced by the second human entity.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe virtual reality environment comprises a plurality of monitoredvirtual objects associated with a plurality of monitored human entities,including the second human entity, and a monitor virtual objectassociated with the first human entity, at least one of the monitor ormonitored virtual object being able to move relative to a coordinatesystem defining the virtual reality environment, and wherein theproviding comprises: providing, by the microprocessor executing theinformation manager and to the first human entity, informationassociated with plural of the monitored human entities corresponding toselected monitored virtual objects; or (ii) changing, by themicroprocessor, the virtual reality environment provided to the monitor.5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more trigger events is oneor more of the monitor virtual object entering or leaving a definedregion, area, or volume in the virtual reality environment, performanceof a predetermined action by the monitor virtual object, receipt of arequest from a monitored entity, detection of a keyword or key wordphrase in a media stream associated with a contact between a monitoredentity and a customer, or detection of a human entity's keyword or keyword phrase in an audio stream or a text string.
 6. The method of claim4, wherein the interrupt is first movement of the monitor virtualobject, wherein the provided information is a live media stream from acontact between at least one selected monitored entity or a customer,wherein the first human entity is connected automatically as a thirdparty to the contact, and wherein the first human entity is disconnectedautomatically from the contact in response to second movement by themonitor virtual object.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the interruptis first movement of the monitor virtual object, wherein the monitoredentity is an enqueued contact with a customer in an on hold status,wherein, by the first movement, a communication module automaticallyconnects the first human entity to the customer contact, and wherein, bya second movement of the monitor virtual object, the first human entityis disconnected automatically from the customer contact and the customercontact is again put in an on hold status.
 8. The method of claim 4,wherein each of the monitored virtual objects is active in the virtualreality environment independent of any control or other input by thecorresponding monitored entity and wherein the monitor virtual object isautomatically suspended when the monitor virtual object performs a firstfunction and automatically reactivated when the monitor virtual objectperforms a second function, the status of the monitor virtual objectbeing independent of the first human entity logging into or out of thevirtual reality environment.
 9. The method of claim 4, wherein themicroprocessor establishes a communication session, through the virtualenvironment, between the first and second human entities and a thirdparty in a contact being serviced by the second human entity, whereinthe trigger event is a change in a performance metric associated withone or more of the agent, supervisor, media collaboration session,predictive dialer, or contact center, wherein the change causes acorresponding change in an appearance of an agent's avatar to reflectthe performance metric, and wherein the performance metric is one ormore of: a selected monitored entity percentage time in state by stateidentifier, a current state of a selected monitored entity, a skill ofthe selected monitored entity, a skill level for the selected monitoredentity, a performance statistic of the selected monitored entity,compliance with a contact center or predictive dialer statistic, policy,or objective, the time an agent spends reviewing daily alerts or specialpromotions, the time an agent spends logged into a relevant application,the time an agent spends organizing his or her workspace beforeservicing a contact, the time an agent spends in a contact wrap-upactivity, average or total contact handle time, average speed of answer,adherence to schedule, contact quality, an ability of an agent toprovide a customer with correct and relevant information, first-contactresolution, grammar and spelling in a text communication, analyzed agentcompetency, number of work item escalations, agent peak performanceindex, transfer rate, agent communication skill, agent adherence toprocedures, or customer satisfaction metric.
 10. The method of claim 4,wherein the microprocessor establishes a communication session, throughthe virtual environment, between the first and second human entities anda third party in a contact being serviced by the second human entity andwherein a monitor re-arranges monitored virtual entities based on amonitor selected criterion.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thevirtual reality environment comprises a plurality of monitored virtualobjects associated with a plurality of monitored human entities,including the second human entity, and a monitor virtual objectassociated with the first human entity, at least one of the monitor ormonitored virtual object being able to move relative to a coordinatesystem defining the virtual reality environment, wherein the monitoredvirtual objects and the monitor virtual object are avatars, wherein theinformation comprises one or more of: a live media stream between aselected monitored entity and a customer, a contact identifier (“ID”), acontact type code, an outbound contact initiation method, a customer ID,a data source ID, an ID of the selected monitored entity and customerinvolved in the contact, a business role code, a party role start dateand time, a contact direction code, a contact direction description, acontact purpose, a contact reason, a contact media interactiondisposition, a contact disposition, a contact wait treatment and/ortime, an ID of the selected monitored entity, a selected monitoredentity ID, a selected monitored entity percentage time in state by stateidentifier, a current state of the selected monitored entity, a skill ofthe selected monitored entity, a skill level for the selected monitoredentity, a performance statistic or metric of the selected monitoredentity, a customer value indicator, a customer historic business levelor purchase(s), a contact history, contact details, contact queuedetails, a call waiting (number), a longest wait time, a percentage ofcalls answered, an average answer time, trunk or trunk group details, orcontact center, predictive dialer, or call center performancestatistics, policies, or objectives, wherein the information is providedto the first human entity by a display concurrently providing the firsthuman entity with the virtual reality environment, and wherein themonitored entities are one or more of agents, agent groups, agentcommunication devices, contacts, queues, queue groups, trunks, and trunkgroups.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual realityenvironment comprises a plurality of monitored virtual objectsassociated with a plurality of monitored human entities, including thesecond human entity, and a monitor virtual object associated with thefirst human entity, at least one of the monitor or monitored virtualobject being able to move relative to a coordinate system defining thevirtual reality environment, and further comprising: determining atleast one of a focus or focal point of the monitor virtual object,wherein the at least one of a focus or focal point is based on one ormore of a virtual position of the monitor virtual object relative to thecoordinate system or at least one selected monitored virtual object, aproximity of a virtual location of the monitor virtual object relativeto a virtual location of the at least one selected monitored virtualobject, a virtual gesture or touch of the monitor virtual object, or aview of the monitor virtual object, and wherein the determined at leastone of a focus or focal point of the monitor virtual object is the atleast one selected monitored virtual object.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the microprocessor establishes a communication session, throughthe virtual environment, between the first and second human entities anda third party in a contact being serviced by the second human entity andwherein, based on the determined at least one or a focus or focal pointof the monitor virtual object, the virtual reality rendering modulereconfigures the virtual reality environment such that at least one of avirtual position of the monitor virtual object is closer to a virtualposition of at least one selected monitored virtual object or adashboard comprising the information associated with the at least oneselected monitored virtual object is displayed to the first humanentity.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor connectsautomatically the first human entity to a session in which a customer isbeing serviced by the second human entity.
 15. A tangible andnon-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that,when executed, cause the microprocessor to perform the steps of claim 1.16. A method, comprising: providing, by a microprocessor executing avirtual reality environment rendering module, a virtual realityenvironment corresponding to one or more of a contact center, apredictive dialer, or media collaboration session and comprising amonitor virtual object corresponding to a human monitor and a pluralityof monitored virtual objects associated with a plurality of monitoredentities, the monitored entities corresponding to human agents forservicing contacts with third parties and the human monitorcorresponding to a supervisor for supervising performance of theplurality of human agents, wherein each of the monitored virtual objectsis active in the virtual reality environment independent of any controlor other input by the corresponding monitored entity, and wherein themonitored virtual object is active even when a corresponding monitoredentity is not logged into the virtual reality environment; andperforming, by the microprocessor executing a control module, an actionin response to detection of a trigger event, wherein the action is: (a)connecting a communication device of the human monitor automatically toa session in which a customer is being serviced by one of the pluralityof monitored entities when the trigger event is an action of the monitorvirtual object corresponding to the human monitor; or (b) automaticallysuspending the monitor virtual object when the trigger event is themonitor virtual object performing a first function and automaticallyreactivating the monitor virtual object when the trigger event is themonitor virtual object performing a second function, the status of themonitor virtual object being independent of the human monitor logginginto or out of the virtual reality environment.
 17. The method of claim16, wherein the microprocessor automatically suspends the monitorvirtual object when the trigger event is the monitor virtual objectperforming a first function and automatically reactivates the monitorvirtual object when the trigger event is the monitor virtual objectperforming a second function, wherein the status of the monitor virtualobject is independent of the human monitor logging into or out of thevirtual reality environment, and wherein the monitor virtual object issuspended when, by the first function, the human monitor is connected toa contact and reactivated when, by the second function, the humanmonitor is disconnected from the contact.
 18. A system, comprising: aprocessor; a plurality of agent communication devices corresponding to aplurality of human agents to service contacts with customers; a monitorcommunication device corresponding to a human monitor to monitor atleast one of the plurality of human agents or agent communicationdevices; a processor executable virtual reality environment renderingmodule to provide a virtual reality environment comprising a pluralityof monitored virtual objects corresponding to the plurality of humanagents and a monitor virtual object corresponding to the human monitor,wherein the monitored and monitor virtual objects are avatars, whereinat least one of the monitor virtual object or monitored virtual objectmoves relative to a coordinate system defining the virtual realityenvironment, wherein a processor executable information managerprovides, to the monitor communication device of the human monitorthrough the virtual reality environment, information associated with atleast one selected monitored entity corresponding to at least one of theplurality of human agents, wherein the information comprises one or moreof: a live media stream between the selected monitored entity and acustomer, a contact identifier (“ID”), a contact type code, an outboundcontact initiation method, a customer ID, a data source ID, an ID of theselected monitored entity and customer involved in the contact, abusiness role code, a party role start date and time, a contactdirection code, a contact direction description, a contact purpose, acontact reason, a contact media interaction disposition, a contactdisposition, a contact wait treatment or time, an ID of the selectedmonitored entity, a selected monitored entity ID, a selected monitoredentity percentage time in state by state identifier, a current state ofthe selected monitored entity, a skill of the selected monitored entity,a skill level for the selected monitored entity, a performance statisticor metric of the selected monitored entity, a customer value indicator,a customer historic business level or purchase(s), a contact history,contact details, contact queue details, a call waiting (number), alongest wait time, a percentage of calls answered, an average answertime, trunk or trunk group details, or contact center, predictivedialer, or call center performance statistics, policies, or objectives,and wherein the information is provided to the human monitorcommunication device by a display concurrently providing the humanmonitor with the virtual reality environment; a processor executableinterrupt module to detect one or more trigger events; and in responseto detecting the one or more trigger events, the processor: (a)determines at least one of a focus or focal point of the monitor virtualobject, wherein the at least one of a focus or focal point is based onone or more of a virtual position of the monitor virtual object relativeto the coordinate system or at least one selected monitored virtualobject, a proximity of a virtual location of the monitor virtual objectrelative to a virtual location of the at least one selected monitoredvirtual object, a virtual gesture or touch of the monitor virtualobject, or a view of the monitor virtual object, wherein the determinedat least one of a focus or focal point of the monitor virtual object isthe at least one selected monitored virtual object, and wherein, basedon the determined at least one of a focus or focal point of the monitorvirtual object, the processor reconfigures the virtual realityenvironment, such that a virtual position of the monitor virtual objectis closer to a virtual position of the at least one selected monitoredvirtual object or a dashboard comprising the information associated withthe at least one selected monitored virtual object is displayed to thehuman monitor; (b) automatically connects the human monitorcommunication device to the customer contact, wherein the one or moretrigger events is first movement of the monitor virtual object and, inresponse to a second movement of the monitor virtual object,automatically disconnects the human monitor communication device fromthe customer contact and puts the customer contact on an on hold status;or (c) connects automatically the human monitor communication device toa session in which a customer is being serviced by one of the pluralityof human agents, wherein the one or more trigger events is an action ofthe monitor virtual object.
 19. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising providing, by an information manager through the virtualreality environment to the human monitor, information associated with aselected one of the plurality of monitored human entities and whereinthe providing is effected by a dashboard containing the informationassociated with the selected one of the plurality of human entities. 20.The method of claim 16, wherein the action is connecting the humanmonitor automatically to a session in which a customer is being servicedby one of the plurality of monitored entities when the trigger event isan action of the monitor virtual object corresponding to the humanmonitor.
 21. A tangible and non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprising instructions that, when executed, cause the microprocessor toperform the steps of claim
 16. 22. The system of claim 18, wherein thesome monitored virtual objects correspond to one or more of agentgroups, agent communication devices, contacts, queues, queue groups,trunks, or trunk groups.
 23. The system of claim 18, wherein theprocessor determines at least one of a focus or focal point of themonitor virtual object, wherein the at least one of a focus or focalpoint is based on one or more of a virtual position of the monitorvirtual object relative to the coordinate system or at least oneselected monitored virtual object, a proximity of a virtual location ofthe monitor virtual object relative to a virtual location of the atleast one selected monitored virtual object, a virtual gesture or touchof the monitor virtual object, or a view of the monitor virtual object,wherein the determined at least one of a focus or focal point of themonitor virtual object is the at least one selected monitored virtualobject, and wherein, based on the determined at least one of a focus orfocal point of the monitor virtual object, the processor reconfiguresthe virtual reality environment, such that a virtual position of themonitor virtual object is closer to a virtual position of the at leastone selected monitored virtual object or a dashboard comprising theinformation associated with the at least one selected monitored virtualobject is displayed to the human monitor.
 24. The system of claim 23,wherein the processor connects automatically the human monitor to asession in which a customer is being serviced by one of the plurality ofhuman agents, wherein the one or more trigger events is an action of themonitor virtual object.
 25. The system of claim 18, wherein the one ormore trigger events is one or more of the monitor virtual objectentering or leaving a defined region, area, or volume in the virtualreality environment, selection, by the human monitor, of the at leastone selected monitored virtual object, performance of a predeterminedaction by the monitor virtual object, receipt of a request from amonitored entity, detection of a keyword or key word phrase in a mediastream associated with a contact between a monitored entity and acustomer, and detection of a human monitor's keyword or key word phrasein an audio stream or a text string.
 26. The system of claim 18, whereinthe interrupt is first movement of the monitor virtual object, whereinthe provided information is a live media stream from a contact betweenthe at least one selected monitored entity and a customer, wherein thehuman monitor is connected automatically as a third party to thecontact, and wherein the human monitor is disconnected automaticallyfrom the contact in response to second movement by the monitor virtualobject.
 27. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor automaticallyconnects the human monitor to the customer contact, wherein the one ormore trigger events is first movement of the monitor virtual object and,in response to a second movement of the monitor virtual object,automatically disconnects the human monitor from the customer contactand puts the customer contact on an on hold status.
 28. The system ofclaim 18, wherein each of the monitored virtual objects is active in thevirtual reality environment independent of any control or other input bythe corresponding monitored entity and wherein the monitor virtualobject is automatically suspended when the monitor virtual objectperforms a first function and automatically reactivated when the monitorvirtual object performs a second function, the status of the monitorvirtual object being independent of the human monitor logging into orout of the virtual reality environment.
 29. The system of claim 18,wherein an appearance or location of a monitored virtual object in thevirtual reality environment provided to the monitor is changed, whereinthe trigger event is a change in a performance metric associated withone or more of the agent, supervisor, media collaboration session,predictive dialer, or contact center, wherein the change causes acorresponding change in an appearance of an agent's avatar to reflectthe performance metric, and wherein the performance metric is one ormore of: a selected monitored entity percentage time in state by stateidentifier, a current state of the selected monitored entity, a skill ofthe selected monitored entity, a skill level for the selected monitoredentity, a performance statistic of the selected monitored entity,compliance with a contact center or predictive dialer statistic, policy,or objective, the time an agent spends reviewing daily alerts or specialpromotions, the time an agent spends logged into a relevant application,the time an agent spends organizing his or her workspace beforeservicing a contact, the time an agent spends in a contact wrap-upactivity, average or total contact handle time, average speed of answer,adherence to schedule, contact quality, an ability of an agent toprovide a customer with correct and relevant information, first-contactresolution, grammar and spelling in a text communication, analyzed agentcompetency, number of work item escalations, agent peak performanceindex, transfer rate, agent communication skill, agent adherence toprocedures, or customer satisfaction metric.
 30. The system of claim 18,wherein an appearance or location of a monitored virtual object in thevirtual reality environment provided to the monitor is changed andwherein a monitor re-arranges monitored virtual entities based on amonitor selected criterion.
 31. The system of claim 18, wherein theprovision is effected by a dashboard containing the informationassociated with the at least one of the plurality of human agents. 32.The system of claim 18, wherein the processor connects automatically thehuman monitor to a session in which a customer is being serviced by oneof the plurality of human agents and wherein the one or more triggerevents is an action of the monitor virtual object.
 33. A system,comprising: a processor; a plurality of agent communication devicescorresponding to a plurality of human agents to service contacts withcustomers; a monitor communication device corresponding to a humanmonitor to monitor at least one of the plurality of human agents oragent communication devices; a processor executable virtual realityenvironment rendering module to provide a virtual reality environmentcomprising a plurality of monitored virtual objects corresponding to theplurality of human agents and a monitor virtual object corresponding tothe human monitor, wherein the monitored and monitor virtual objects areavatars and wherein at least one of the monitor virtual object ormonitored virtual object moves relative to a coordinate system definingthe virtual reality environment; a processor executable interrupt moduleto detect one or more trigger events; and in response to detecting theone or more trigger events, the processor automatically connects themonitor communication device of the human monitor to the customercontact, wherein the one or more trigger events is first movement of themonitor virtual object and, in response to a second movement of themonitor virtual object, automatically disconnects the monitorcommunication device of the human monitor from the customer contact andputs the customer contact on an on hold status.
 34. A system,comprising: a processor; a plurality of agent communication devicescorresponding to a plurality of human agents to service contacts withcustomers; a monitor communication device corresponding to a humanmonitor to monitor at least one of the plurality of human agents oragent communication devices; a processor executable virtual realityenvironment rendering module to provide a virtual reality environmentcomprising a plurality of monitored virtual objects corresponding to theplurality of human agents and a monitor virtual object corresponding tothe human monitor, wherein the monitored and monitor virtual objects areavatars and wherein at least one of the monitor virtual object ormonitored virtual object moves relative to a coordinate system definingthe virtual reality environment, wherein an appearance or location of amonitored virtual object in the virtual reality environment provided tothe monitor is changed, wherein the trigger event is a change in aperformance metric associated with one or more of the agent, supervisor,media collaboration session, predictive dialer, or contact center,wherein the change causes a corresponding change in an appearance of anagent's avatar to reflect the performance metric, and wherein theperformance metric is one or more of: a selected monitored entitypercentage time in state by state identifier, a current state of theselected monitored entity, a skill of the selected monitored entity, askill level for the selected monitored entity, a performance statisticof the selected monitored entity, compliance with a contact center orpredictive dialer statistic, policy, or objective, the time an agentspends reviewing daily alerts or special promotions, the time an agentspends logged into a relevant application, the time an agent spendsorganizing his or her workspace before servicing a contact, the time anagent spends in a contact wrap-up activity, average or total contacthandle time, average speed of answer, adherence to schedule, contactquality, an ability of an agent to provide a customer with correct andrelevant information, first-contact resolution, grammar and spelling ina text communication, analyzed agent competency, number of work itemescalations, agent peak performance index, transfer rate, agentcommunication skill, agent adherence to procedures, and customersatisfaction metric; a processor executable interrupt module to detectone or more trigger events; and in response to detecting the one or moretrigger events, the processor: (a) determines at least one of a focus orfocal point of the monitor virtual object, wherein the at least one of afocus or focal point is based on one or more of a virtual position ofthe monitor virtual object relative to the coordinate system or at leastone selected monitored virtual object, a proximity of a virtual locationof the monitor virtual object relative to a virtual location of the atleast one selected monitored virtual object, a virtual gesture or touchof the monitor virtual object, or a view of the monitor virtual object,wherein the determined at least one of a focus or focal point of themonitor virtual object is the at least one selected monitored virtualobject, and wherein, based on the determined at least one of a focus orfocal point of the monitor virtual object, the processor reconfiguresthe virtual reality environment, such that a virtual position of themonitor virtual object is closer to a virtual position of the at leastone selected monitored virtual object or a dashboard comprising theinformation associated with the at least one selected monitored virtualobject is displayed to the human monitor; (b) automatically connects thehuman monitor communication device to the customer contact, wherein theone or more trigger events is first movement of the monitor virtualobject and, in response to a second movement of the monitor virtualobject, automatically disconnects the human monitor communication devicefrom the customer contact and puts the customer contact on an on holdstatus; or (c) connects automatically the human monitor communicationdevice to a session in which a customer is being serviced by one of theplurality of human agents, wherein the one or more trigger events is anaction of the monitor virtual object.
 35. A system, comprising: aprocessor; a plurality of agent communication devices corresponding to aplurality of human agents to service contacts with customers; a monitorcommunication device corresponding to a human monitor to monitor atleast one of the plurality of human agents and agent communicationdevices; a processor executable virtual reality environment renderingmodule to provide a virtual reality environment comprising a pluralityof monitored virtual objects corresponding to the plurality of humanagents and a monitor virtual object corresponding to the human monitor,wherein the monitored and monitor virtual objects are avatars; and aprocessor executable interrupt module to detect one or more triggerevents; and in response to detecting the one or more trigger events, theprocessor performs at least one of the following operations: (a) atleast one of the plurality of human agents at least one of the monitorvirtual object, or the monitored virtual object moves relative to acoordinate system defining the virtual reality environment, wherein aprocessor executable user focus module determines at least one of afocus or focal point of the monitor virtual object, wherein the focus isbased on one or more of a virtual position of the monitor virtual objectrelative to the coordinate system or at least one selected monitoredvirtual object, a proximity of a virtual location of the monitor virtualobject relative to a virtual location of the at least one selectedmonitored virtual object, a virtual gesture or touch of the monitorvirtual object, or a view of the monitor virtual object, wherein thedetermined at least one of a focus or focal point of the monitor virtualobject is the at least one selected monitored virtual object, andwherein, based on the determined at least one of a focus or focal pointof the monitor virtual object, the virtual reality rendering modulereconfigures the virtual reality environment, such that at least one ofa virtual position of the monitor virtual object is closer to a virtualposition of the at least one selected monitored virtual object and adashboard comprising the information associated with the at least oneselected monitored virtual object is displayed to the human monitor; (b)at least one of the monitor or monitored virtual object moves relativeto a coordinate system defining the virtual reality environment, whereinan interrupt is first movement of the monitor virtual object, wherein asecond monitored entity is an enqueued contact with a customer in an onhold status, wherein, by the first movement, a communication moduleautomatically connects the monitor communication device of the humanmonitor to the customer contact, and wherein, by a second movement ofthe monitor virtual object, the monitor communication device of thehuman monitor is disconnected automatically from the customer contactand the customer contact is again put on an on hold status; or (c) inresponse to an action of the monitor virtual object, the monitorcommunication device of the human monitor connects automatically to asession in which a customer is being serviced by one of the plurality ofhuman agents; wherein a processor executable information managerprovides, to the monitor communication device of the human monitorthrough the virtual reality environment, information associated with atleast one selected monitored entity corresponding to at least one of theplurality of human agents and wherein the provide operation is effectedby a dashboard containing the information associated with the at leastone of the plurality of human agents.